Prevent sorting errors, material losses and quality deviations – reliably detect and classify materials in real time on conveyor belts. Fully programmable or ready-to-use solutions.
Machine Vision for the Recycling Industry
Typical Challenges in the Recycling Industry
01
Reliable Material Identification
Plastics, metals, paper and other recyclable materials must be accurately identified, even when contaminated or damaged.
02
Handling High Throughput Rates
Sorting facilities process large volumes of material in a short time, requiring reliable real-time detection.
03
Managing Varying Material Properties
Different shapes, colors and surface characteristics make reliable material classification challenging.
04
Improving Material Purity and Sorting Quality
Sorting errors and contaminants must be detected early to improve the quality and purity of recyclable material streams.
Our Approaches
Two Paths to the Right Vision Solution
Depending on your integration requirements and project timeline, IMAGO offers two distinct approaches recycling applications.
Open Plattform
Flexible Vision Platform
For OEMs (recycling and sorting equipment manufacturers) and recycling companies that require full control over application logic, system integration, and scalability.
- Freely programmable with the IMAGO ViewIT software framework, C++, Python, and HALCON – no black box, full control
- Multiple inspection tasks on a single device – for example print inspection, OCR, code reading, and registration control.
- Portable across all IMAGO devices, with OPC UA and REST connectivity for Industry 4.0 integration
- Long-term availability, including ODM (Original Design Manufacturer) variants for serial machine production
Ready to use
Preconfigured Solution
For users with a specific inspection challenge who need fast and reliable results without extensive in-house development.
- Deep-learning inspection of visually variable parcels and logistics objects without programming using a web-based GUI
- Fast deployment with minimal lead time and a clear focus on rapid time-to-market
- Reliably detects anomalies and contaminants despite variations in shape, color, and surface.
- Consulting and support from the experienced IMAGO engineering team – robust hardware made in Germany
Decision Guide
What Is Your Goal?
Choose the approach that best fits your project – both lead to a reliable inspection solution.
Maximum Flexibility
You develop your own inspection solutions or integrate machine vision deeply into your printing or converting machinery.
Fast Implementation
You have a specific inspection task – such as label verification or foreign object detection – and need a ready-to-use system quickly.
Differentiation
Why IMAGO for the Recycling Industry?
Hardware, software, and system integration work together to ensure reliable material recognition, accurate sorting, and high throughput.
Open Software Framework
Freely programmable instead of a black box – full control over every inspection task on the line.
Multiple Tasks, One System
OCR, code reading, quality control, and AI inspection run on the same hardware instead of multiple systems.
Long-Term Availability
ODM variants and long product life cycles for serial machines and global rollouts.
Future-Proof Architecture
Scalable platform without vendor lock-in that grows with your requirements.
High-Speed-Vision
Hundreds of products per minute with processing power directly in the camera or box PC.
Applications
Typical Applications in the Recycling Industry
IMAGO vision systems are used in these four application areas in the recycling industry. This is just a small selection of what machine vision enables today.
Material Recognition and Sorting
Plastics, metals, paper, glass and other recyclable materials are reliably detected and classified, enabling automated sorting and directing materials to the appropriate recycling process.
Foreign Object and Contaminant Detection
Unwanted materials, incorrectly sorted items and contaminants are detected early to improve the quality of recyclable material streams and prevent equipment damage.
Quality Inspection of Recycled Materials
Recycled materials are continuously monitored to ensure compliance with purity levels, material composition specifications and quality requirements.
Object and Material Flow Monitoring
Material flows on conveyor belts are captured and analyzed in real time to optimize sorting processes, increase throughput and improve overall equipment efficiency.
Technology for Demanding Recycling and Sorting Processes
A high-performance machine vision system for the recycling industry must combine high throughput with reliable material recognition. Plastics, metals, paper, glass and composite materials must be detected and classified in real time on high-speed conveyor belts.
IMAGO provides the required computing power either directly on the camera or externally in a Vision Box PC. Real-time I/O and powerful edge processing enable seamless integration with sorting equipment and control systems via OPC UA and REST API.
Material classification, foreign object detection, quality inspection and material flow monitoring can run simultaneously within a single system. Thanks to the open software framework, different material streams, system architectures and customer-specific sorting criteria can be implemented flexibly.
The combination of traditional machine vision and AI enables reliable detection of both clearly defined characteristics and variable, difficult-to-describe defects.
Product recommendations
Recommended Machine Vision Solutions for the Recycling Industry
The following systems are designed to meet the demands of the recycling industry. They combine reliable material recognition, high processing speeds and flexible image analysis. Depending on the application, they can be fully programmed or deployed as ready-to-use solutions.
Reliably detect and classify materials, contaminants and recyclable resources in real time.
Frequently Asked Questions
How can different types of plastics be reliably distinguished?
Many types of plastic look almost identical to the human eye. AI-powered machine vision can analyze shape, color, printed markings and surface characteristics to support automated sorting. Combined with additional sensor technologies, highly accurate sorting solutions can be achieved.
How can contaminants and unwanted materials be detected at an early stage?
Foreign objects and incorrectly sorted materials affect the quality of the recycling process. Machine vision detects unwanted objects directly on the conveyor belt, enabling their targeted removal.
Is the platform open and scalable enough for future AI applications?
New material classes, sorting criteria and AI models can be integrated through software. As computing requirements increase, the hardware can also be expanded flexibly.
